Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-09-10
A Posthumous Beard.

AN UNDERTAKRR SAYS THAT THE WHOLE OF NAN
DOES NOT DIE AT ONCE.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
81 read In sundays Examiner an article headed
Shaving Dead Men, copied from the Chicago
Inter-Ocedn," said an Oakland undertaken said to
have dug deeper the mysteries of his profession
than most of his melancholy brotherhood. at
describes barber, who had shaved many corpses,
speaking In jeertng words of an English dude
who cautioned him against taking the stubble
e on the neck OF MS defunct relative upward,
instead OF downward, because the hair would
afterward grow improper. The barber evidently
supposed that the beard ceased to grow after a
mans death, but that is not the case at all II the
body Is preserved from decay by being buried in
an iron, air-tight casket, the beard Will not die
but will 60 on growing just SO long as corruption
head ever Increases in length, but you know even
In life mans locks become scanty, and finally
disappers altogether as he grows old, while hts
age usually only serves to make his beard thicker
and longer. can vouch for the vitality Of the
hair that sprouts from the skin.
"When the war closed was an undertaken in
Richmond, Va, and was employed to direct the
funeral OF a well-known Southern merchant who
had freely lavished his large fortune In aiding the
OF something to which the doctors Gould give no
name, but which the family, who were Obliged to
go to the North to enable the to earn livel-
hood; had no hesitation IN calling broken heart
Loyalty sacrificed to the lost cause. He was an
elderly man, who had always kept his face clean
shaved, and after his death his widow, who was
many years younger than her husband desired
that barber should remove the bristles that had
grown upon his skin while he was in the state Of
mental Indifference toward outward things that
is the forerunner OF such death as his.
"H1s face, II may use the expression, was as
smoth as neW-laid egg when he was stretched in
sealed and placed in the family vault, which,
after the custom OF many Southern people at that
time was on the plantation owned by the family
ThArema1ns were the last deposited there, for the
estate passed into the hands Of strangers, who as
was usual on such occasions, pledged themselves
allow us former owners access to 1t at all times
"Fifteen years passed away, and the relatives of
the dead man. grown rich in the East, determined
to dt9nter the body, remove 1t to Long Island and
bury IL In Greenwood Cemetery. They came to
Richmond, where was still doing business in
take the remains from the vault. did SO, and be-
fore they were shipped for the East the widow ex-
pressed desire to look upon the face once more
l was satlsned that the body was in good condi-
ton. so removed the lid Of the CONN as 1t lay in
my shop The lady glanced at the contents, and
clared that had made a blunder and that the
body was not that OF her late husband
"Of course knew had not committed any
error, out confess that at first was cOnsdera-
bly, staggered myself On the once smooth chin
was growing snow-white beard that reached
the corpse, hlng nearly all the space left IN the
cof1n. The clothes and score of other evidences
convinced the children that they were looking at
the remains OF their father, but the widow refused
to be comfOrted until the pOSthumOuS beard was
shaved on, when She at once recognized the face
I have odOubt that luxurient crop of hair again
ad0rns the race. l have seen many cases OF q
similar kind, but none in which the growth OF the
Deard was SO great as In this one"